7th Chord Secrets You Should Know

7th chords are one of the most common ways of extending a triad and spicing up your chord progressions. But there are SIX common types - each one with a different colour and mood. What are they, how are they formed and how do you use them? Join Guy Michelmore for a journey into the dark underworld of music theory as he explores the lesser-known sevenths and what they can do for your music. So join Guy and find out more about the 7th chord secrets you should know.
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00:00 This video discusses the theory and usage of seventh chords in music.
3:59 The video explains how seventh chords are formed using triads and the major 7th chord is popular in modern music.
8:35 The video discusses the minor major 7th chord and its similarities to the Bond chord, which has a jazzy and ambiguous sound.
12:33 The video is about the process of creating music and experimenting with different chords.
19:09 The video discusses the importance of using seventh chords in music

[@nefdsnet]

Ah, yes...seedy cocktail bars in the 80s. I was five and working as a private investigator in Kuala Lumpur. Solved the case of the pink bassoon in the Birkenstock factory and lost my Lotus Esprit to Danny Elfman in a game of high stakes yahtzee. Guy wrote the score to the movie adaptation directed by Gary Busey's evil twin. What a time to be alive!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

ha! I'll have one of whatever you're on please....

[@nefdsnet]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation Just your videos, so you already do. 👍

[@DarkSideofSynth]

You two should form a comic duo and break the Internet. Just saying...

[@NgaTaeOfficial]

“I was drunk as a presenter in a cocktail bar… in eighty-two”

[@DarkSideofSynth]

@@NgaTaeOfficial "... that much is true..." ;)

[@TommenIBaratheon]

I'm a terrible composer, but all your videos help me understand better the pieces I learn and play. Thank you Guy!

[@joegrint6280]

20 Bars of Twaddle - brilliant name! Great video Guy - thank you!

[@paulwconnor]

Ooh, some lovely new colours for the palette! Thanks Guy! 🎉

[@eosborne6495]

I love fully diminished chords! I tend to think of them as a rootless 7b9 chord. But a fully diminished could theoretically be any of 4 7b9 chords depending on what you imagine the root to be, which means they can resolve to 4 different places. It’s so fun for modulating. Set up a V-I in C. Add the b9 and subtract the root from your G chord so now it’s a Bdim. Add a Bb in the bass to make it a Bb7b9, resolve to Eb BOOM key change.

[@jonathanpittock1447]

Wow, thanks Guy! I've struggled to twig the interval spacing for 7th chords learning just 'how' to play Cmaj7 or Gmaj7 but now I feel I'm equipped with the 7th chord construction kit!! 😁

[@gregchristie2763]

I love your presentation style..humorous and happy, yet very informative and easy to watch and learn from ..thank you

[@danielvest89]

The bond chord is definitely my favorite! Thanks for another great video Guy!

[@davidsinclair699]

Thanks Guy. I really appreciate the mix of theory and application. Learnt a lot.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Glad you like it - I think that is the way to go. Theory by itself is kinda interesting but applying it makes more sense to me anyway

[@MartinJG100]

Good stuff, Guy. These theoretical excursions are great.

[@alienzardsketter.9076]

I enjoyed this so Much !! yes , Its one of the best videos I have watched in a long while on youtube ,,,Your are a character and it good ,,,I Love the way you related events and visual seens to the chord changes ,, It was nice music , My friend was the second best Jazz pianists in USA , ,, I remember when he got his Yamaha DX7, and sound module , Bruce Martin , I learned all these chords when I was very young , I did a strang thing my piano teacher said , I made all my major chords in the second inversion ,,she said Just keep doing it ,,,so I did , learning all the majors minors 7ths major 7ths and so on ,,I would Listen to Classical music ,, and Queen , Love of my Life ,, Liberace , Micheal Martin Murphy ( Wild Fire Piano Intro ) all of Dan Fogelbergs music , I Love Roger Whittecar ) Carrol King Jazz Man) and I Loved Patrick Cowley ,, and Giorgio Moroder , and Trio , Da Da Da ,, and Kraftwerk , and I Love ACDC More then Bevis and Butt Head, hehe ,, In the 1980's I loved Madlenne Kane ,,You Can,,,,and I Loved Country music ,,Love Venga Boys ,,and Aqua ,, and all 1980's and 1990's return of Club Music ,, I know this is not rite , I would love to hang with you Guy for a day ,, It would be so much fun ,, when Iw as young I lived by College Teachers , they were my friends ,,Opera singers and piano and voice and painting and theater my play ground was the College the Library art music plays and all the crazy people and me ten years old ,,all my friends were older then me ,,but I had did art all my life as long as I could remember ,, I almost with I would had been castrated in my youth in order to keep my voice I used to have ,,Minnie Ripperton range and me a teenager ,,,I always felt there is a spirit of art and music ,,it it watched people , and if you was a artist ,, the spirit of art watched you and your creations something to be revered but the spirit of art music was not overbearing but observed the human creator's works , and no I dont hear any voice I am not hearing them yet dont want to ,,Guy Thank you for this video ,, I really enjoy watching it It pullled my intrest and made me smile but its a very important thing , 7th Chords Secrets we Should Know ,,yes :)

[@thomaswomack3888]

this was a fascinating presentation of how 7th chords are constructed and how they can be fit together in a composition. Very clever and insightful.

[@thepigeonlor]

I always seem to be coming to your videos for help with compositions lol. Thanks for the help!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

youre welcome!

[@charliemcgrain]

Thank you so much!

[@stansteez]

The reason for the "dissonant" quality of the dominant 7 chord which longs for "resolution" is that interval between the 2nd and the 4th note of the chord is a tritone (in root position, of course).

[@michaelkeithson]

Yeah, I recently took a bit of a deep dive into dominant 7th. So interesting all this stuff.

[@tilleyroadaffairproduction6752]

Thank you this is fabulous!

[@hereitis2418]

That is very helpful and inspiring, well done.

[@mk7073]

Brilliant!

[@CretchyVids]

You know I really dont pay your channel enough respect your videos are really great and your humor is great!

[@deepmuscletherapyhealth6776]

thankyou Guy, yes i have

[@MatMonteiroMusic]

Great! thanks

[@TheValueOfN]

21:49 I often pair music that inspires me with visuals from my curated playlist of visuals and it's incredible how often the music seems to synchronise perfectly even though the frames are far from being merely "a few" frames out of sync. I'm seriously interested in this course!

[@iancurrie3763]

Great video!

[@C_F_M]

I want to use some of that downward motion in my progressions, some of those intervals are pretty emotionally interesting

[@Doc2rjae07]

great lesson

[@affectunit]

really helpful guy🎉

[@blakeburnett4077]

Hey Guy, I love the very informative video! Do you find much use for the Augmented 7th chord?

[@colinjames2469]

Golf...finger.... 🤣love Guy!

[@nbnewman]

There are several other, rather less common, seventh chords, such as C7b5 (C - E - Gb - Bb) and C7#5 (C - E - G# - Bb). The half diminished (e.g. B - D - F - A) can also be regarded as the minor sixth of the chord built on the third - D - F - A - B, Dm6, in the same way that the full minor seventh is the same as the major sixth chord of the third (Bm7 = D6). Some of the odder seventh chords appear as passing chords in chromatic sequences, e.g. the second chord in 'Stairway to heaven', which is an A minor major seventh (although it also has a ninth on top).

[@HenningUhle]

After watching this amazing video, I directly had to subscribe to the channel. Really liked what I saw although I'm familiar with most of the content. But it's the way of presentation.

[@alandenton2973]

Very interesting video. I did the 'Learn Music Theory' course, and I can recommend it to anyone who wants to learn lots more 'stuff' like this!

[@jimfuqua3170]

Seedy cocktail bars is wonderful piano!!!!!

[@MaxTooney]

Can't live without the six common ones, but what about use of the augmented 7th chords (which are admittedly weird) : a triad composed of 1 / 3 / #5 / b7 or my personal favorite -- a 1 / 3 / #5 / maj 7th? (Apologies if this has already been asked -- flitting about today, didn't have time to read all the comments. Enjoyed the lesson!)

[@katjoe1974]

Kinda remarkable to have a 22 minute long video about all the various 7th chords and not talk about Jazz at all. The ii-V-I is like the foundation of jazz and consists of the minor 7, dominant 7 and Maj7

[@ijmanchester]

Yes, it's Goldfinger! 😁

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

I love that line - whoever wrote it had a good day that day

[@ijmanchester]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation …indeed, a classic line! 👍

[@JonBushell]

When your learning the diminished augmented triad mind blowing theory, any app on iPad that displays the chord you’ve played would be great. But most don’t but your logic does. I cannot het my iPad logic to do that.

[@Dave-nm8uk]

Very helpful - though I must put in a plea for Sibelius 7th symphony!

[@philipford6183]

A little bit disappointed you couldn't find a kind word for Maj7th chords. If I'm honest, I love 'em. Also Maj9th chords. True, Maj7ths can sometimes veer perilously close to the cheesy, but that's down to the artist, not the chord. I hear these lovely chords (and their close relatives) in Ravel, Debussy, or Vaughan Williams - exquisite, mesmerizing. Maj7th Chords Matter!

[@mickgrainger3670]

I love 'em too. But they can't be pounded out - they need to be lingering and sparse. Two notable seedy '80s piano bar practitioners, Burt Bacharach and Erik Satie, frequently employed these to great effect. Serious self-reflection resulting in an abject apology is recommended Guy.

[@TheValueOfN]

16:57 I'd love to experience where you might have gone with Obsession's 'Heroman KS' patch.

[@dafingaz]

Nice

[@ProAudioIQ]

Cmin7 root position into 1st inversion sounds like something used as the chords invert up the keyboard at the end of Clair de Lune. Is that right (?)

[@NigelDThompson]

Erm...Yeah not up to your usual audio standard Guy, but the content is really interesting and entertaining as always. Sets me up for the weekend nicely. Thank you👏

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Something very weird went on - looking at the waveform there was some kind of phase issue but no idea where it came from

[@TheValueOfN]

A minute and a half in and I'm coming to the comments to assure myself that it's not on my end.

[@djrbfmbfm-woa]

Hi guy. there's another one. the Diminshed MAJOR 7th. C - Eb - Gb - B. yes, there's a fourth in there. lol. i use this one a lot. not particularly stable. generally i use it between say C - CdimM7 - Dm. The famous Stella by Starlight? it is the starting chord. cheers. j.

[@charlesgaskell5899]

There's also the augmented major 7th chord - C E G# B 😀

[@djrbfmbfm-woa]

@@charlesgaskell5899 yes, i've used that one as well. j.

[@desoconnor7445]

I liked this so much I made notes…after I found the pen😂

[@cthncthn7405]

This is such good information! Consider my palette widened. Can you do suspended chords next?

[@144digital]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5e8hqiHlNmDp80si=fF19HUD_DhmfZYsR He already did

[@ablebees_com]

CTHN CTHN, you might be not the only one who would want to see a video on suspended chords from Guy. Would you like to start a petition on Ablebees requesting Guy to make a video on this topic? Others would support your petition.

[@user-kx9si7xy6o]

Hi Guy. On guitar, B7th is 2nd string 2nd fret, 3rd string 1st fret, 4th string 2nd fret and 6th string 2nd fret. Which of these notes makes the B a 7th? and if by removing it, is the chord a B Maj?

[@SteveSensenig]

I'm curious how you decide which DAW to use in your videos. Sometimes, like here, you use Logic and other times, I think it's been Cubase? (Or is it DP?) Anyway, I was just curious if there's a particular reason you choose one over another in various situations.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

I try to spread the love! Its also slightly random tbh as I use both all the time particularly for course videos but I am mainly Cubase

[@hassanridarecords3134]

hello guys, anyone knows the name of the music guy played for michel le grand at 4:58 ?

[@gregf1299]

Great tutorial! But, Guy, you said you didn't like the maj7 and liked the ambiguity of major and minor together? Isn't that a maj7, mixture of a major and it's relative minor? (Cmaj+Am)

[@frankheckel3382]

The Bond-quote: Yes, it was »Goldfinger« …👍😁

[@markburton3306]

I quite liked the creaky chair sounding a bit like a snare drum roll

[@earthlightsmusic2743]

10:10 A C half-diminished can also be heard as a A-flat 9 without the root.

[@user-yp9kw8tx3s]

Guy have you done one on secondary dominants? Have to look...

[@RP14_Music]

Guy your wedding ring twiddle is so funny, also new studio ?

[@jeffreysimpher8870]

There is a typo in your graphic for the Half Dim 7th chord at 9:09. I am using this to teach a lesson to my students and one of them noticed :)

[@radiozelaza]

and what about augmented seventh and augmented major seventh?!

[@joecantdance494]

Hi Guy, great video especially for part time musically inept people like myself. Any tips for applying this to other chords? Is it purely a practice til you know it kind of thing?

[@Achime03]

I sstrongly object: ;-) The Major seventh is fantastic from my point of view in the right combination and is sort of dreamy. 😊 But I must admit that it took some time for me to become friends with it. It wasn‘t love on first sight.

[@emteepeeess]

Always love these videos when I dive into them - but there's something really odd about the voice sound on this one - strange phase error that's extremely uncomfortable to listen to in stereo, but also sounds particularly phasey in mono.

[@FLH3official]

A great Guy's video, as usual! 5:00 : exemple talking about Michel Legrand but the theme played, Un Homme et Une Femme, is from Francis Lai, but we got the idea and I'm quite pedant 🧐 5:24 : You talk about your experiences in "CD Cocktails Bars", "CD" means for "cross-dressing"?

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Damn you are right!

[@bobrv8]

LOL- That image is too disturbing!

[@HauntedMinutes]

I think he means "seedy"!

[@bobrv8]

@@HauntedMinutes I think the OP knew that - he was just having a laugh with Guy, who gamely joined in :-)

[@chrisdurhammusicchannel]

You don't like Augmented triad with flat 7??? You don't like diminished Major 7 chords??? Discrimination, I tell you!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Great video as always!!!!

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Take 2! had a strange audio problem which I think we've mostly fixed

[@flashmutex]

There still seems to be an issue. Sounds like two sound sources competing with a millisecond delay in between, causing a millisecond delay reverb effect. It's noticeable when you start the metronome at 12:11. Metronome clicks on the left channel, delayed click on the right channel.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

I know - not easily fixable unfortunately so we did our best and hopefully it isnt too annoying. we'll figure out what happened next week!@@flashmutex

[@johnmac8084]

I think the Bond chord at the end worked well 😀

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

My harmony guru Tom tells me the bond chord is actually min maj 7 add 9 - and as always I think he's right

[@xXUsualxSuspectXx]

13:49 👌

[@NgaTaeOfficial]

11:19 freezeframe - Guy demonstrates the Firestarter chord...

[@TheOneChartine]

sooo ... I'm 15ish minutes into Flora and Son on Apple+ and who do I see on the web in the background? YOU!!! So I had to drop by and leave this (probably irrelevant and maybe inappropriate comment). I get your emails but have been a bit of a lazy musician. Will take this as a sign to re-subscribe to the channel and try again. Now ... to get an instrument again. Thank you. Honestly. Now, to finish the movie and figure out getting a guitar or keyboard again. 🙏🏾🎶💙

[@matthewolney6745]

All I can hear during the composition part with the plucked piano w/ delay is Diablo themes.

[@drunkenguitarist3051]

What about aug 7, maj 7 b5 and sus 7?

[@cesmcmyth]

LOL! dull voice: "Could play a G7th" hahaha so accurate

[@olivierpierre968]

While this video on seventh chords is informative, it does simplify the topic considerably by suggesting that only six of them are commonly used. This simplification excludes chords such as the augmented 7th or dominant 7th flat five, which are not discussed. It's possible that this simplification is a deliberate choice, which may make the content more accessible to entry-level learners.

[@KennethGonzalez]

"Twenty Bars of Twaddle" -- has a certain ring to it! 😝

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

My autobiography now has a title

[@SteveSensenig]

Maybe an Irish band? Twenty Bars O'Twaddle

[@tzodearf2596]

I'd watch more of your videos if I thought you'd cut out all the preface and preambulations...I stand corrected; you got right to it this time.

[@vleiratfilms2020]

Gotta do this before going back to the HowTo ThinkSpace courses..just for fun. 🌹no 😎. Thank you Guy🙂

[@xvoodoo9999]

While much James Bond music uses the MinMaj7 chord, the true “James Bond” chord - as heard on guitar at the end of the James Bond Theme is the MinMaj9.

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

100% right! Tom our resident harmony geek told me that after I filmed it

[@affectunit]

btw how about you add some previews of what's about to come, at the start? that way people can also remember what will be in this video and it would be a decent show off for new viewers

[@TresSeaver]

@ around 0:35: "digging in looking at how you might ???????"

[@HeeBeeGeeBee392]

Now I'm wondering what does a "minj3" interval sound like?

[@NickHoad]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGGxcqKHl9KBrbssi=mnBU1bmjb1_vMwuW?t=208 Adam Neely’s got your back there

[@jonwatte4293]

Did you give up on Cubase?

[@DanIel-fl1vc]

Scales Chords Intervals You use those three when harmonizing the music. But in what order. •You could look at the melody line only and say, it would make sense to travel in major seconds up a bar to this note which is a perfect fifth from the note in the past bar. But if you do that you'll be picking notes outside the scale and the chord. •You could look at the chord progression only, I like how these chords change but none of them fit in a scale. •You look at a scale, the dominant, subdominant the home key their relationship makes sense and you can transpose the key and do all kinds of stuff. But you don't have as much freedom as you do with intervals and chords. Maybe intervals are more relevant when chords change or when you have the melody do one thing and the counterpoint melody something else. Maybe you should ignore chords and just work with intervals inside a scale. Especially with the dominant subdominant talk which you often see on the internet. But you also see the roman numerals under every single song on the internet which refers to chords in the major scale. It's not obvious what the right way is. Maybe the right way is to not think at all and just copy paste chord progressions from good songs since most good sounding music has already been made. It's frustrating because you're able to make something sound alright, but you don't understand how to go about doing it the right way so that maybe it'll sound even better than it does. I wish I could look into the head of a really good composer like John Williams and see how they go about doing this. If they're guessing or if they have a step by step method to harmony that results in it sounding good.

[@synaesmedia]

Does this mean there are 12 different types of ninth chords? Each of these with either a major or minor third on top?

[@charlesgaskell5899]

I'm looking forward to the next in the series - the ninth chord... 😊

[@joshuaday914]

My favorite chord is the Maj7. lol

[@tbonealex]

There are a lot more than six seventh chords! 7#5, 7b5, dim(maj7), 7sus, sus4(maj7), maj7b5, maj7#5

[@charlesgaskell5899]

He did say "in common usage" 😊 But yes

[@tbonealex]

@@charlesgaskell5899 those are all very common! Not as often in pure pop music but in jazz, classical, and film music they’re just part of the language.

[@ryanknaggs]

Hi Guy, regarding the Major 7th, and how it sounds so loungey and cocktail bar sounding, just remember what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas baby! LOL

[@user-tt9tf9ji6f]

Guy, Also a great fan of yours, But have ti point out a typographical error in your 7th Chord secrets chart, on the last two lines there a "J" that shouldn't be there Charlie

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

oops

[@trumpetcoder]

I love the Gollum chit chat. "Ha I saved the day!.... No you didn't." 😀

[@andrewculley1132]

What about a half augmented seventh?

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

I know there are more but I stopped at the usual 6 but a good point

[@jaymurray6051]

Shouldn’t B too hard on ya self GM some of your throw away accidentals that make U shudder at the very thought that they came outta your fingers are actually quite awesome. I thought this was a great video, it left me in 7th heaven (and I don’t even know what that means ? ) If someone can tell what 7th heaven means I’d B grateful… better still what happened to the first 6 ?

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Ha! Isn’t it a Buddhist thing? Not sure

[@jaymurray6051]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation Buddhism that’s interesting would of googled it earlier but I was at school

[@TheStudioDrummer]

6x7 is 42. Is that anything??

[@music_creator_capable]

Hello ^^

[@cornodk]

Great video Guy - but stereo on the voice recording?

[@avsystem3142]

The secret is out!

[@ptah23]

what's up with the sandals arranged the wrong way in the back?

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

You lot spot everything! Its a secret message like the cover of Abbey Road by the Beatles

[@ptah23]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation an 8th secret secret 😲

[@KRTeutsch]

The real question here is why is the keyboard being rated “near mint” like a Spider-Man comic on eBay?

[@MobiusVideo]

9:05 What’s a minj3 interval? Minj? Sounds a bit rude 😂

[@steph1918]

Mind the sandals. 🙂

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

Ha! Damn I thought they were out of sight - birkenstocks - I live in them!

[@steph1918]

@@ThinkSpaceEducation 😅

[@equiliser]

1st

[@ThinkSpaceEducation]

1st second time around! We published then unpublished the wonky version so it wasnt up for long

[@kdcyp]

Guy! Tony Banks and Steve Hacket will have your guts for garters for stealing some Cmaj7 bars from ‘The Cinema Show’ off Selling England! 😂

[@DrGlu]

Let's release it under "Journey to the dark side" name

[@kutchutozov]

Bond: You expect me to talk? Goldfinger: Noooo Mister bond, I expect you to die! John Barry: Doo dah, doo dah,,, doo dooo dahhhh ,,, doooo doo gah doooo , dah doo dahhhhhh! and p.s. you made that look frighteningly easy 🤯 (but please when yo do the "DUHHHH" voice try going super "posh" 🤠 (and can I be "21 bars of twaddler" please😍)?

[@mikethemusicman1978]

The courses are too expensive for me i'm afraid.